Brussels, 11/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The second Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Croatia (see below) will be initialled on Monday afternoon on the sidelines of the General Affairs Council. The Balkans, enlargement, Africa, the Middle East, defence and the UN will be the main issues of this Council, which will continue on Monday afternoon with a meeting between the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and those for Defence, then Tuesday, with two meetings between the EU 15, the member countries of NATO that are not part of the EU and the candidate countries (see below). The EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs will discuss the following subjects:
The Balkans: the EU 15 should adopt conclusions on the situation in Macedonia (condemnation of the violence and call for dialogue), Montenegro (they should call for a return to dialogue with the Yugoslav authorities, to find a new constitutional arrangement "in the federal framework"), and southern Serbia (approval of the efforts for dialogue and a ceasefire). The co-ordinator of the Stability pact, Bodo Hombach, will take part in this discussion. From Wednesday to Friday, the EU Troika (Swedish and Belgian Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Commissioner Patten) will go to Albania, Macedonia and Serbia.
Africa: during what Sweden presented as "the main debate on Africa" in its Presidency, the EU 15 should adopt a common position on the conflicts in Africa, by insisting on the enhancement of the prevention capabilities, the carrying out of regular studies to identify the potential conflicts, the improvement of the support for African peace keeping forces and the importance of the cooperation policy. The Council should also adopt conclusions on the Great Lakes region, Western Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leon, Liberia and Nigeria), Zimbabwe and Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Middle East: The EU 15 will discuss the situation in the region over lunch, notably to prepare the next Cooperation Council with Israel.
United Nations: The EU 15 will dine on Monday evening with the UN Secretary General to discuss the European contribution to the management and prevention of conflicts.
Enlargement: The Ministers will try to agree over a common negotiating position over the difficult chapter of the free movement of persons (see below).
The EU 15 will also discuss: the preparation of the Gothenburg Summit; the situation in Indonesia; access to institution documents (confirming the political agreement). On Tuesday, they will hold an Association Council with Cyprus, and then with Moldova.
On the other hand, the Council will not sign the agreement between the European Union and Egypt, this week. The signing of this highly important agreement has been postponed to a future date, but soon, according to the Commission, partly because of the Council agenda being already very heavy, and also because the competent Egyptian Minister will change the day of the signing.